Midtown -- Atlanta's gay and lesbian hub -- rubs shoulders with downtown, Decatur and Buckhead. The intown neighborhood bustles daily with a melange of business people, artists, students, recreation enthusiasts.

As inclusive as Midtown is, however, some gay men and lesbians are opting to reach out to other neighborhoods -- perceived by some to be less gay-friendly -- because of the advantages suburban living can offer.

"For one, it's just a price issue," said Allen Thornell, executive director of Georgia Equality, a nonpartisan gay advocacy group.

"Gay people started populating Midtown in the '70s and they played a large role in revitalizing the area," Thornell said. "But now you find some gay people looking for a good home at a great value. Within the city, you're seeing increasing property values. New people who'd like to live in Midtown simply can't buy in."

Thornell, an East Atlanta resident since moving here eight years ago, sees neighborhoods like East Point and Ormewood Park as fertile ground for gays looking to branch out of Midtown.

Another incentive, suggests Thornell, is the growing acceptance of homosexuals by mainstream America.

"People are realizing that we are couples and families," he said. "That's making it easier for gay people to move into nongay areas," he said.

According to the 2000 census, there are more same-sex households in the South than any other region. Gay households in the city of Atlanta make up only 1.7 percent of total couple households. Still, that's 2,833 couples, catapulting Atlanta up with San Francisco and Washington among the nation's top 10 large cities with the most same-sex households.

The idea of gays moving to the suburbs doesn't surprise Cindy Abel, president of Bizvox Marketing and Communications, which specializes in helping companies reach gay and lesbian consumers.

"Like any neighborhood, folks who originally restore it and renovate it aren't necessarily the ones who will stay on," she said. While some anecdotal data suggest that gays and lesbians are moving out of the inner city, "There's obviously still a whole lot of gays and lesbians intown. Inside the city of Atlanta proper there's a definite sense that the city celebrates and embraces diversity, gay or straight. The burbs haven't necessarily shown that."

Since moving to Atlanta in 1983, Kathleen Womack, a lawyer and a lesbian, has lived in Little Five Points, Decatur and Stone Mountain. She relocated to Sandy Springs so that her son could attend a good middle school.

"Two gay men live next door, and I have a ton of [gay and lesbian] clients who live all over -- from Powder Springs to Acworth to Alpharetta."

In Womack's opinion, gay people are drawn to the suburbs by the same things that tend to draw heterosexuals.

"People want more house, bigger lots, less traffic," she said. "We're finding that we are accepted in these neighborhoods," Womack said. "Newcomers to Atlanta have choices about where to live. In neighborhoods around Atlanta, they might find out they're not alone. We're everywhere."